1978 Monte, now with a big block...
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 5
1978 Monte, now with a big block...
Hello my name is Todd from Rochester, NY...this is my Monte which is turning into a full blown drag car...looking for traction and suspension pointers to help her hook. on to the car!
I bought this car in September of 2011 after getting into an accident with my old import from a coworker. He said it ran mid 11’s all day with a 388 SBC/TH400/Ford 9” so I was game. Always kind of been a muscle fan but for some reason always liked the imports. I gave it a shot and I remember the first time I launched the car I nearly crapped myself. I did not expect it to accelerate that hard…it was fun and all…refreshed the motor (New bearings/rings/gaskets) over the winter of 2011/2012 and beat the living hell out of the car all last year. Ran between 11.33-11.67 all year long in race form and I put it on the streets with pump gas and mufflers and all that jazz and it went 11.8’s. Car held up great…nothing broke or got worn out all year with…how could you go wrong?
Video of 1/4 mile pass:
But then the go-fast in me wanted more…so after careful consideration and talking to an engine shop…I decided to drop the hammer and do something new…I decided I wanted to go with a 496 big block. My goal is 10.2 so we figured out that I would have to make 700HP on an engine dyno.
Motor goodies:
Pro-Systems SV1:
Custom headers:
Added a window net:
Waiting for the motor to be dyno’d (Trimmed up the K-Member to set the motor in the car lower):
Repainted the bumpers (Props to Auto Finishers in Rochester for their paint matching!)
Finally it was dyno time…1st pull put down 735HP but it kept falling on it’s face…2nd pull resulted in 785HP@6800, and tried a pull with the air filter and it put down 779@6800...damn air filter. Lol My distributor was on it’s way out…but since we way over exceeded my goal…that was good enough for me.
Dyno run:
Finally got the motor in:
Had to cut a hole in the hood to make it fit. Lol:
Old steering didn’t clear the motor…so rack and pinion it is…
Once having the motor in…I was experiencing wiring woes with the stock wiring harness…tried finding what was causing it…and that resulted in deciding to just rewire the whole damn car…
As good of a time as any to reorganize the dash board…old placements:
New layout…ditched the whole wiring harness…life is much easier now that the fuses aren’t under the dash up on the firewall…I’m not a contortionist. Lol
Finished engine bay minus breather tubes and catch cans…still planning on tucking wires on wheel well cover to inside the fender…
Video of her running in the car:
I have some minor things to finish up including making a new transmission tunnel to clear the flexplate and transmission shields…oh joys…but hopefully I should be at the track in a few weeks to start shaking her down…It’d be nice if she hooked and went strait and made good passes…but I highly doubt that since building this car went from “oh I’m going to just put a bigger motor in the car.” To completely practically rebuilding the car. lol
Car is still stock location suspension…10.5”x28” tire in the back and 4.5” wide tires in the front…I’m expecting traction to be a huge issue…I would like to hear what others have to suggest on getting traction next to flat out tubbing the car…
I bought this car in September of 2011 after getting into an accident with my old import from a coworker. He said it ran mid 11’s all day with a 388 SBC/TH400/Ford 9” so I was game. Always kind of been a muscle fan but for some reason always liked the imports. I gave it a shot and I remember the first time I launched the car I nearly crapped myself. I did not expect it to accelerate that hard…it was fun and all…refreshed the motor (New bearings/rings/gaskets) over the winter of 2011/2012 and beat the living hell out of the car all last year. Ran between 11.33-11.67 all year long in race form and I put it on the streets with pump gas and mufflers and all that jazz and it went 11.8’s. Car held up great…nothing broke or got worn out all year with…how could you go wrong?
Video of 1/4 mile pass:
But then the go-fast in me wanted more…so after careful consideration and talking to an engine shop…I decided to drop the hammer and do something new…I decided I wanted to go with a 496 big block. My goal is 10.2 so we figured out that I would have to make 700HP on an engine dyno.
Motor goodies:
Pro-Systems SV1:
Custom headers:
Added a window net:
Waiting for the motor to be dyno’d (Trimmed up the K-Member to set the motor in the car lower):
Repainted the bumpers (Props to Auto Finishers in Rochester for their paint matching!)
Finally it was dyno time…1st pull put down 735HP but it kept falling on it’s face…2nd pull resulted in 785HP@6800, and tried a pull with the air filter and it put down 779@6800...damn air filter. Lol My distributor was on it’s way out…but since we way over exceeded my goal…that was good enough for me.
Dyno run:
Finally got the motor in:
Had to cut a hole in the hood to make it fit. Lol:
Old steering didn’t clear the motor…so rack and pinion it is…
Once having the motor in…I was experiencing wiring woes with the stock wiring harness…tried finding what was causing it…and that resulted in deciding to just rewire the whole damn car…
As good of a time as any to reorganize the dash board…old placements:
New layout…ditched the whole wiring harness…life is much easier now that the fuses aren’t under the dash up on the firewall…I’m not a contortionist. Lol
Finished engine bay minus breather tubes and catch cans…still planning on tucking wires on wheel well cover to inside the fender…
Video of her running in the car:
I have some minor things to finish up including making a new transmission tunnel to clear the flexplate and transmission shields…oh joys…but hopefully I should be at the track in a few weeks to start shaking her down…It’d be nice if she hooked and went strait and made good passes…but I highly doubt that since building this car went from “oh I’m going to just put a bigger motor in the car.” To completely practically rebuilding the car. lol
Car is still stock location suspension…10.5”x28” tire in the back and 4.5” wide tires in the front…I’m expecting traction to be a huge issue…I would like to hear what others have to suggest on getting traction next to flat out tubbing the car…
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 19
From: Long Island, NY
Wow, that's a lot of motor for that car. You should have some fun. Give the cage a good going over make sure there aren't any cracks. When you get to the track make sure someone video's the car. This way you can dissect the launch and make improvements where they're needed.
Welcome to the MCFThanks for joining & sharing your Full Blown Chevy Monte Carlo Drag Machine...Enjoyed reading/viewing your build
Look forward to your future posts...Good Luck on getting the performance & times that you're after
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 5
Thanks guys, I finally got to drive it around a little bit this weekend! First time moving on its owns will since last Novemberish. What a great feeling. All that's left is the transmission tunnel and hopefully I'll be at the track this weekend.
I think the motor flows enough air...lol This was just a couple revs up to 3,000-4,000rpm. lol
Finally on the ground, with her running shoes back on:
Another engine shot, new catch cans in place.
I think the motor flows enough air...lol This was just a couple revs up to 3,000-4,000rpm. lol
Finally on the ground, with her running shoes back on:
Another engine shot, new catch cans in place.
